Wednesday, September 13

Video: '96 Finals Highlights

It's video time again. Today, we get a heart-breaking glimpse at what might have been: The '96 Finals. (Sigh.) The video is a bit low-res, but at least you get to see The Glove dunk on Jordan. (Sigh x2.) FEED THE HAWK!

By 1996, as good as the Sonics were, the 'Championship Window' had already closed on them due to the return of MJ. Between 1993-1995 they were a relatively better team compared to the rest of the NBA.

I'm a life-long Chicago Bulls fan, but I was at Game 7 of the 1993 Western Conference Semifinals at Key Arena - when the Sonics beat the Rockets in OT. (That's still the most exciting sporting event I've ever been to - other than the 1986 NFC Championship Bears 23 Rams 0). The Sonics were the equals of the Suns, who were pretty much the equals of the Bulls that year.

For the next two seasons the 'Championship Window' was WIDE open for the Sonics. Heck, it was more like a 'Championship Garage Door That You Could Drive A Truck Through.' The Sonics easily could've beaten the pants off the Knicks and the Orlando Magic, if they only could've won in the FIRST round!! Sorry, sad but true.

In 1996 the Bulls went 87-13 (including the playoffs), and they lost multiple times to only the Sonics (three times) and Pacers (twice). They also lost twice in a row only two times: at Denver and at Phoenix in Feb, and in the Finals against the Sonics.

Sorry to rehash history for ya, but it's all to easy to remember the great 1996 Sonics team because they came so close. But they also went as far as they possibly could - the Bulls were a superior team, if only by a little.

The 1996 Sonics were a team to be proud of - as you are. The 'heart-breaking glimpse at what might have been' really refers to the two prior years - when the Sonics really SHOULD have won it all.